


Hopetale

by GlitchingDonuts



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adult Frisk (Undertale), Betrayal, Blood and Injury, F/F, F/M, Female Frisk (Undertale), Graphic Violence, Grief/Mourning, Hate, Light themes of Child Neglect, Minor Character Death, Past Character Death, Rage, War, a few OC's - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:41:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26155159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitchingDonuts/pseuds/GlitchingDonuts
Summary: Many years ago, two races ruled the earth. HUMANS and MONSTERS. One day, about 21 years ago, war broke out between the two races. In the end it was hardly a war, and the humans claimed victory. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell..14 YEARS LATER . . .The monsters broke free with seven souls that they had collected from every single child that fell down into the underground. War was waged once more when the monsters attacked the city of Ebott in the night, killing many brave humans. The new war has stretched on for 6 years, and the war effort is slowly eating the races from the inside.But one young human is going to stop this war herself.And her determination is going to make sure of it.
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Asgore Dreemurr/Toriel, W.D. Gaster/Annie
Kudos: 3





	1. A New Day

The sleeping souls of the beautiful town were slowly waking while the golden rays of the sun were bathing the city in new light.

Most wished they could go back to sleep, but one dame was eager to set off for her day. The young woman, only 22, had practically leaped out of bed, changing out of her sleeping gown and into a dark blue polka-dotted dress, buttoning up the middle as she settled into the dress. She had skipped over to the restroom, brushing out her hair neatly and braiding her hair neatly. She had slipped on her black leggings and low black flats. She had added a dark grey trench coat to fight off the cold of the morning.The outfit was quite breathable, she had kept that in mind just in case another monster attack happened today and she needed to run or defend herself. She remembered how she had pushed away the thought of the war, and went on with her merry mood. Now she ran down the sidewalk, quickly dodging any pedestrians that were near her so she didn't run into them. The dame reached out for the trolley and jumped, barely grabbing it and pulling herself up. She swung around, hanging out of the trolley and cheerfully waving at any people that the vehicle passed. Most people smiled at her and waved back, while some others would either look away in a timid nature. Well, Frisk figured, not everyone was as lively as the determined young lady.

Soon the trolley stopped and she stepped off, bouncily making her way down the last distance until she came up to the store. Frisk smiled at the familiar little bakery before she skipped her way inside. The store hadn't changed since she had been there the day before. As she entered, she sauntered in a straight line, with the tables for two lined on either side of her. booths were lined on the walls, made of leather. The path that seeped straight through the line of tables led right to the counter, where the familiar man stood, preparing all of the sweets that were supposed to go into the display. Felix looked over when he noticed her standing there. He was a clean, handsome chap, with his black hair that fell over his left eye partially, and his charming dark dusty blue eyes sparkled as usual. He wore a white dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, a dark green apron and grey trousers. Felix was a very kind person in all of the time that Frisk had known him. He was married to Shelia, a lively and rather hot-headed dame that balanced out Felix's calm persona. She had met Frisk a few times when she had came to her husband's work to bring him something, which was usually his lunch or something. "Ah, Frisk! I see that you're right on time, as usual." Felix's melodic voice spoke, and Frisk held up a thumbs up. As the employee went to the backroom to put on her apron and set her trench coat on the hook, the shopkeeper smiled, "How was your morning?".

"Oh, it was quite fine. It is a very beautiful day, and everyone seems to be in a great mood!"

The dame was much more cheery than usual. Wow, she must have had a really good night's sleep or something. Felix hadn't seen her so cheerful since when he had given her that chocolate cake a few months ago. He chuckled to himself as he remembered the young lady's reaction. He knew of no-one that loved chocolate more than Frisk. "Is that so? Well perhaps you would be willing to flag down a few customers." He said in a teasing yet calm tone. His co-worker strolled out of the backroom and when she was sure that Felix could see her she raised an eyebrow in an equally joking manner. When Frisk thought about it, the shopkeeper was almost like an older brother to her, if not the father figure she never had. Especially when he kept teasing her about-

"Or.. if you aren't going to flag down customers, you can track down a man for yourself."

Ah, there it was. Felix had kept joking and teasing her, making it known that he thought that she would meet someone. The thought made her uncomfortable. She wasn't good at flirting, and that had been confirmed last year when she had been walking down the street, on her way to the bakery, when a man with blonde hair had tried to hit on her. Frisk had just stammered over her own words when it happened, and had run away after a few seconds. She remembered telling Felix the story and he had burst into laughter. She remembered the memory vividly, as memories like that usually did. She had snapped back to the present quickly after she remembered the occurrence, and replied, "Eh.. I'm only 22 Felix. I uh.. don't think I need to settle down anyway-"

The clinging of the bell, signaling an entrance into the store made both workers' gazes shift to the door. There stood a dame, about 5 foot 7, with dark brown hair that flowed down to the middle of her upper arm, sparkling green eyes and a gentle grin. She wore a dress similar to Frisk's, except it was a bit longer and had long sleeves with puffy cuffs. The dress was white with teal leaf patterns at the bottom edge of the dress and at the ends of the sleeves. The dress was a button-up like Frisk's, and around the woman's neck was a beautiful necklace with what Frisk recognized as moonstone. The woman was wearing black heels as well, and a white purse hung over her shoulder. Her green eyes rested on Frisk and it took the employee a moment to recognize the dame.

"Aaron! Sorry, I didn't recognize you. It's great to see you sis!" Frisk said hurriedly, silently scolding herself for not recognizing her own sister. But.. Aaron just looked.. different. Sure, they hadn't talked in awhile, but moonstone? Moonstone was.. very expensive around here to say the least. But despite her thoughts, she needed to do her job. Frisk shook free from her thoughts and smiled at her older sister. "So Aaron, what brings you here?" Aaron reached into her purse and took out what looked like money. The golden coins shimmered in her hand, especially from the sun shining in through the windows. As the woman made her way up to the counter, she began to explain. "Well, I have a friend that I am meeting up with for tea in 30 minutes, and I heard that this place makes delicious biscuits, and the person that I'm meeting with is very particular on their biscuits. So, why not give it a shot? I had no idea that you worked here, Frisk." Felix had listened intently to the lady before nodding, turning and walking into the kitchen to make the biscuits. The two sisters were left in the store, an awkward silence hanging in the air. Frisk finally spoke. "Hey, what's that thing around your neck?" Aaron looked down to the pendant, and her breath puffed out in realization, as if she had been holding it. "Ah, that? You must have noticed the moonstone. Well, I guess you could say I, um.. found a stable job." Frisk drank in every word, and nodded when her sister finished speaking. She began nervously tidying up the dining areas, eager to find any work. Agh! Why was interacting with her family so hard? Why couldn't she just look at them the same way she looked at strangers? She had always been tense around her family, especially her mother, but usually she was able to interact with Aaron just fine. She guessed it was so awkward because it had been awhile, maybe a year or so since the two spoke to one another, and there wasn't really much to talk about, other then just going through the motions of basic small talk. She shuddered at thinking about how awkward basic small talk was. Asking about the weather.. how the person's day was.. what they planned on doing tomorrow.. Frisk had disliked small talk for as long as she remembered, and preferred full-fledged conversations, which were usually much less awkward, and didn't make her feel like crawling into a hole and burying herself there.

Once Felix came out with a box, presumed to be fresh biscuits, and Aaron payed him, The dame grabbed the box, thanked the two and went on her merry way. Frisk let out an inward sigh of relief. That was new. She could never recall a time before this when she hadn't wanted to be around her sister. Aaron was usually light-hearted, still calm, but more sociable than she had just been when she was in the shop. Perhaps she was just in a hurry. Yeah, maybe she was having a bad morning. Well, there was no time to think about that now. Frisk quietly hummed to the music playing on the radio behind the counter as she tidied up the store. This day was still fine after all.

\--

The middle-aged woman stared out across all of the other monsters in the street. She let out a light chuckle when she saw little Fuku following Emmy around, like the fire elemental had always done, much to the other raptor-type monster's dismay. She found that she was quite enjoying her day off, while her sons were going around the town with their usual shenanigans. Annie spotted them from afar, the taller sibling dragging around the shorter one, probably going on about different things. She let a warm smile spread across her face while she snuggled into her warm blue jacket, with its fluffy interior. The village was alive and bustling, as it usually was on days like these. She spotted the king watering the flowers outside his home, while the queen strolled with her son down the street. her eyes travelled back to Fuku and Emmy. The fire elemental was now grabbing onto his leg as he tried to get her off. Annie's smile grew wider as she stood up and sauntered over. "Now what's happening here?" Emmy whipped his head around at the sound of the skeleton monster's voice. An expression of relief spread across his face and he frantically spoke. "Fuku won't get off my leg!" The raptor monster tripped over Fuku and fell to the ground, struggling to get up because of his lack of arms.

"Haha! I have taken down the great dragon!" Fuku's shout of triumph called out as she leaped on top of Emmy, keeping him down.

"Heh, um, Fuku, please don't attack any more royal guardsman." She smiled, and the fire elemental looked over to Annie, her thin flaming eyebrows dropping in a pout. After a few moments, the green ball of fire let out a reluctant "Fine.." before getting off of Emmy. The skeleton monster helped up the armless raptor, and he nodded to her. "Thanks boss." With a quick glance at Fuku, Emmy speed-walked off.

"Now Fuku, maybe you should get home to Grillby. It is his day off after all, and he might get you a nice cream." She leaned down to Fuku's eye level, and the child narrowed her eyes. But after a few moments of contemplation, she nodded and scampered off to find her father. "Thanks Ms. Annie!" She called over her shoulder, and kept running. The skeleton waved to her, and looked back to where her own sons had been. But she realized that they weren't there. She figured that her younger son had dragged his brother to somewhere else around town. Annie couldn't help but think that it would be a perfect day if the war wasn't still going on. She pushed away the urge to sigh at the thought of the tension and fighting that had been happening for the past six years, when her oldest son had barely been 18 and her youngest had been 16. She wished that her sons had been able to grow up free, but instead they had been born in the underground, grown up in the freezing town of Snowdin and now, even though they were free, it was overshadowed by war and bloodshed. That was why her husband had been working so hard these past few years, so that he could produce weapons to give monsters the advantage. Annie herself had been working hard lately, especially since her job was very important to the war effort. She was the captain of the royal guard after all. Her thoughts wandered toward how her youngest son was so happy about being in the guard, and her frown curled up into a gentle smile, while her feet began carrying her toward the librarby. She suppressed the thoughts of fighting and death, she didn't want her good mood spoiled.

When she reached the librarby, she strolled inside, nodding to the librarian before she made her way to the quantum physics section. "Same as usual, eh Ann?" the librarian, who she knew his name as William asked, with his nickname for Annie. "Yup." She spoke over her shoulder as she began browsing through the quantum physics books. Her gaze settled on a smooth looking black book, which had the title printed on the side in golden letters, which was simply: The Multiverse. The text was printed in the font Alex, which Annie had encountered before a few times. She had been named after a font herself, which was called: Annie Use Your Telescope. She found the name of the font a bit ironic, since she was very interested in the stars, and dreamed of owning a telescope. After she finished the thought, she grabbed the book. It was quite heavier than she had expected. But when she looked at the cover, she saw that it had multiple different things on it. The first thing she noticed was the same place drawn two times, right beside each other, with small differences, such as a house being a little bit damaged on the right, while it was in amazing shape on the left. There were also many other pictures of the same sort, and it sent a tiny chill down Annie's spine, but she figured that her oldest son would enjoy this book. He did enjoy studying alternate timelines or universes and whatnot and Annie found it interesting, even if she thought that it wasn't true. She would never tell that to her husband or her son anyway. Her husband was the royal scientist, and he had spent a good portion of time studying such things, and her oldest son had been very interested in such things since he was a babybones. The skeleton took the book and made her way back to the counter, where the green lizard monster leaned, his square spectacles foggy as usual. William had bought those cloudy glasses from Old Man Gerson, and the glasses had been owned by a human that had fallen into the underground. Annie shook her head jokingly as she looked at the glasses, as she had always done when she saw her old friend since he had bought those glasses.

"Heya Will, I'd like to check out this book." She said, making sure that Will heard her, in case he was dozing off.

William looked down to see the book that Annie had placed on the counter, and raised a scaly brow. "The Multiverse? That one's new. Haven't seen it around the store before." The lizard remarked as he scanned the book and was about to put it in the bag, before the client held up her arms and took the book, stuffing it in the pocket of her jacket. "It's fine, I got it Will." He nodded before putting the bag away. Annie waved goodbye before turning and sauntering out of the librarby. She chuckled at the misspelt sign as she recounted the memory of when her sons were helping William when he was about to open his library for the first time, and her youngest son had been distracted by her oldest while painting the word 'library', and accidentally added an extra B. She remembered what a fit the taller brother had had, and how monsters had to keep the ladder still so he wouldn't fall off. The dame strolled toward the market, while taking in the beautiful day, as well as her peaceful day off.


	2. A Quiet Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Night seeps into the streets, and their guardian's gaze pierces into the forms of those who come out of their homes.

The cloaked figure leapt from rooftop to rooftop, keeping mind of the cracks and crevices of the alleyways between. These were fairly new houses, only built 6 years prior to house the monsters so that they wouldn't have to live in a crowded camp. The tiny town was named "Newer Home". Yeah, the king was pretty lousy when it came to naming. The person tried to be nothing but a silhouette against the roofs, so that no enemy could detect that they were around, human or monster. Even if the war was humans versus monsters, some monsters worked undercover for the humans. He felt his face cringe in disgust at the very thought of traitors living among the monsters that were working so hard to overcome the human forces. Sure, the monsters had magic and humans often found it troubling, but humans had much stronger souls, and on top of that, he had heard from human spies that worked for the monsters that the human army was learning the teachable types of magic. There were three types of magic known to this world currently: Learned, Inherited, and Spells. Learned magic is self-explanatory. It is weaker than inherited magic but still effective, and this magic can be learned. The most well-known types of learned magic were the main elements, water, fire, earth and air, as well as healing magic. Inherited magic could only be acquired if the user's parents were monsters. Every monster that exists has some form of magic, that would be passed on to their children. Almost anything imaginable could be a form of inherited magic, mainly because of how monster magic was developed. And finally, spells. Spells can only be casted if a few words are spoken that initiate the spell, unlike the other two types of magic. This is why spell books existed. Spells were rarely used anymore, but most spells are very strong. The humans probably didn't have any spell books, but if they got their hands on some because of their monster spies..

...

He didn't want to think about it.

The cloaked figure ended up on the bell tower that stood in the marketplace. It wasn't as high as the Ebott bell tower, that was for sure, but it was tall enough to the point where you could see most of the small town. He wished to take off his hood, but he knew that he shouldn't. The monster wouldn't quite fit into the surroundings anyway, and it was warm in the cloak opposed to the icy chill of the night. It was at times like this that he wished he didn't have skin so he couldn't feel cold. But he did have his fur, so it wasn't that bad. Stifling a sigh of boredom, the silhouette perched on the bell tower, watching over the streets. His piercing gaze travelled from the marketplace below, down the main street, and into every crack and crevice that he could see clearly. The ones that he couldn't see didn't worry him, because the others would be watching there, where their post had been assigned. The troop that was responsible for watching over the city at night, nicknamed the Owls, had been trained for combat, as well as staying undetected. The troop was used to sticking to rooftops and alleyways, so none of them had ever been detected before. He himself was the leader of the troop, even if it was only because of his status. That thought led him to thinking about what he had been born into. As the monster's thoughts wandered, he let his gaze travel along the streets over and over.

But his effort to thoroughly stare among the streets to detect any potential spies going out to leak information to the humans wavered when his thoughts began taking over his mind. He wished that he could have been born in a normal monster family, because if that were the case, he wouldn't be looked up to. He wouldn't be pressured as much or given so many jobs. His father had grown up when he had to take the place of his own father, and his mother had adapted to the change once she had married his father, but Asriel just couldn't see himself being a king one day. The problem had heightened when the first human fell down. In reality, he had wanted to help the human, maybe become friends with them, and.. he had let the words of his father sink in that day. "Six human souls, and our people will be free. Any human that falls here must die." the scene of the human's death replayed in his mind. He remembered how he had called for his father, and Asgore had come running at his son's panicked tone. And when he saw the human.. Asriel would have sworn that he had seen the king's hands shaking, his eyes portraying his hesitation, but the old boss monster had summoned his trident anyway, and.. the rest was self-explanatory. The memory of turning away while his father killed the human child, covering his ears to block out the horrible screaming and crying of the child, before the cries had been silenced, and the king had sealed her soul in a container.

After the incident, he remembered how the pressure heightened when the other monster children had told him that he should have killed the human himself. But when he thought about it.. he would never be able to take someone's life, let alone their soul. The very culmination of their being, being taken away. What a cruel death that child had suffered, not knowing where they were or what was happening before they met their fate. The prince's heart wrenched at the thought. He tried to push away the depressing thoughts of that day, allowing his thoughts to shift toward what he was supposed to be doing. He kept watching the streets, and after what felt like hours, he spotted a shape moving down the street. Asriel scaled down the bell tower slightly before jumping onto a shop's roof nearby, and leaping across the rooftops toward the shape. As he got closer and closer, the details of the person's appearance soaked into his mind like water into a sponge.

Large and floppy ears, creamy brown fur, a muzzle, a bit short, small buck teeth, wearing a dark brown leather trench coat with what he could see as a grey sweater and a short grey gingham skirt underneath. Definitely a rabbit monster, but Asriel had never seen them before. He stuck to the roofs, moving slowly so he wouldn't make any noise, as he followed the rabbit. He was led to the edge of the town, by the forest, where the monster was headed for a path that indirectly led to Ebott. The prince realized that he had to do something. because he couldn't let the monster leave, especially if they were going toward Ebott. They could be a spy for the humans, and he couldn't risk information to be leaked. So he slipped off the roof of the last building before the woods started, sliding down a drain pipe and landing on his feet. He chanced a glance to his right, and saw the rabbit going into the forest. The boss monster turned and crept into the trees, his pace quick but being careful not to make a single noise. He slanted his path to the right so he could approach the path. Once he could see the other monster walking along the path through the trees, he emerged from the trees silently and approached the rabbit. Once he was close enough, he summoned sabers that jutted out of the ground in the bunny's path. The other monster, shocked, turned to see her pursuer, and her eyes met with Asriel's, who had summoned a chaos saber in his hand.

Before Lily could react, the saber in the boss monster's hand was moved to her neck, just barely grazing the fur. The rabbit monster's purple eyes met the other monster's mesmerizing green ones. She immediately recognized the monster as Prince Asriel, and panic rose in her mind. If she was caught by Asriel, she would surely never see the light of day again, whether she confessed what she was doing or not. By second nature, she went over her options. She could use her magic, but it wouldn't be of much use in this situation, especially because the prince possessed fire magic, blasters and sabers. All Lily could do was grow plants, keep plants alive or give them a temporary curse where their eyes were covered with flower petals. Wait a minute, maybe she could use the curse. It took a lot of magic, but she was sure that she would still have enough magic to do her work.

"Why are you here?"

The prince's voice came in a harsh tone, his green eyes piercing into hers, glazed with suspicion. The rabbit only shook out an "uh.." in response. She looked down at the saber, then back to Asriel, gesturing for him to move the saber. He moved the saber back a bit, but still close enough to keep her from moving. Lily blinked at the other monster, her hands folded together in front of her, preparing the curse. But.. maybe she didn't have to use the curse. She could probably get out of this without having to fight. And it would get her in less trouble too. "Well you see.. I was on my way to Elder Kyna's house. We had arranged to meet so we could research the learned magic of Drain." The boss monster narrowed his eyes a bit at this. Drain was a learned magic that would take all of the magic energy from the victim's body and add it to their own energy supply. The magic was rarely used, and mostly forgotten, since the last time the casting of the spell had been recorded was about 58 years ago. Drain was in the sub-type of air magic, and Elder Kyna was known to be fluent in many magics, even ancient spells. The old woman herself was a monster, and there were very few who personally knew her. If Asriel bought the lie, then Lily would have to take a detour down to the road that led to the old monsters cottage in the forest, take the hidden path through trees and she would end up in Ebott eventually. She would be a bit late for her drop, but it would be effective in avoiding the wrath of Asriel Dreemurr. The boss monster was known to be quite capable in combat, and Lily wouldn't stand a chance against him.

"I see. And who are you?"

The rabbit blinked her purple eyes, trying to think of an alias. She came up with one, and improvising on her words, she began to explain with yet another lie. "I'm Lilith Riano, and I am an assistant of W.D. Gaster, who is currently researching how to make human magic disappear. You know this already, yes? I'm here on official business." The taller monster blinked, making his sabers disappear. He looked a bit suspicious, but after a few seconds he sighed.

"Alright. I'll let you go but next time if I see you I will accompany you there to make sure that you aren't lying."

Lily couldn't help but narrow her eyes at this. Did she really have to be watched like this? She was 26 for Heavens sakes.. then again, at work she was babied as well, so She guessed it was inevitable at this point. She huffed out a breath and nodded, trying to look professional and sophisticated, and she continued on down the path until the road to Elder Kyna's cottage came into view. She glanced back, seeing that the boss monster was gone, and she quickened her pace. She turned, going down the path until she was sure that she wasn't being followed, and when she reached the charming little home the rabbit monster veered around the house and continued down the path to Ebott. Hopefully her boss wouldn't scold her for being late..

\--

Asriel perched on the bell tower once more, scanning the streets even though he knew that no-one was there. After awhile he gave up and just laid down right next to the bell. There was a roof on this, and he was grateful for that detail, because if there was no roof, then he would always have a chance of getting stuck in the rain. Besides, since he was right by the bell, he would be able to signal for trouble with the bell at the first sight of an attack or anything like that. His mind wandered back to how he had let the rabbit monster go. He barely believed that this "Lilith" was even working for Dr. Gaster. Even if the lab kept secret about who was working with them, Asriel knew that Dr. Gaster and his apprentice, Alphys, usually seeked help from reptilian monsters or skeletons of the sort, because in the lab, they usually worked with very hot equipment and such. The reptilians would find the heat pleasant, and even if there were very few skeleton monsters, they could barely feel temperature differences, so it wouldn't bother them. But a rabbit? Rabbit monsters usually had really thick, fluffy fur, and that would definitely bother them in the lab. Well, maybe Lilith didn't conduct experiments. Maybe she just gathered information or something. The more Asriel thought about it, the more regret he felt at letting the monster go. He sighed, sitting up and looking out of the bell tower. Where he was sitting was at the very top. The bell hung from the middle of the ceiling and every wall had a very large dome-like doorway that allowed it to be an effective watchtower. He stared down at the streets again, almost certain that a human attack would happen tonight. "Lilith" was probably a spy for the humans.

Heck, she had probably used an alias. Maybe he could find something to distract his thoughts from this. His gaze scanned the streets over again, and this time he spotted a lone shape on a rooftop near the marketplace. He was close enough to see that the person had a stature of a human's. They had short hair from what Asriel could see and.. armor. He stood up, scanning the rooftops of every other home in the area, and he spotted shaped of the same nature, all humans, wearing armor, some smaller than others, but a few had swords and spears drawn. The prince immediately rang the bell, as loud as he could, until he knew that everyone in Newer Home had been alerted. After taking off his hood, he summoned two sabers and used them to scale down the bell tower in a few seconds, and ran into an alley. He sprinted quietly up a fire escape and onto a roof, creeping up behind a human and when he was close enough, he swung his sabers across the humans back. The human was knocked over from the force, and when he turned around and saw Asriel, he drew his sword and met the monster's sabers with it. The two clashed for a moments before the swords slid off of one another, and after, the soldier scrambled up and steadied his foot hold on the roof, but before he could deal a returning blow he was struck across the face by the monster's saber. Blood began oozing from the wound, but the human soldier didn't pay attention to it. Before Asriel could prepare, His soul was turned orange and his HP, which had been 4000, was reduced to 40. The reduction in HP startled Asriel, and the shock was doubled when the human dealt a powerful punch to his chest. He was sent flying, and he was forced to let his saber skid across the roof shingles in order to slow himself, and he caught his feet on the roof. The boss monster pushed his feet onto the shingles, propelling him off of the roof, and summoning more sabers, which all flew toward the human, along with fire that flew at the soldier from behind. His opponent found himself trying to get away from the sabers and fire, becoming distracted, and by the time the human was down to 20 HP, he wasn't able to move before Asriel sent a saber flying straight at his chest and..

The saber cut straight through his armor. It lodged into his chest, and Asriel could see that it went all the way through his body. The human turned his brown eyes up to the monster, which were quickly dulling. Blood ran down his chin from his mouth and he cackled, "You're real happy.. aren't you? You get to take my soul now. Go on. Do it." On the last two words, the human's eyes completely lost all light from them, and he fell onto his knees, and went limp. The prince couldn't move. He had just.. killed someone. Regret and feelings of anger toward himself welled up in his mind as the human's body flashed to orange, and disappeared, showing his orange soul shattering. Asriel had.. taken someone's life. He could have avoided it, but he didn't. He felt awful.. taking the life of another person had never been an option to him, but now that it had happened, he didn't know what to do. His saber that had killed the human clattered on the roof, and he made it disappear. He snapped out of his thoughts as quick as possible, there would be time to feel awful later; for now he needed to help the monsters fight against the humans. Sprinting across the roof and onto the edge, staining his snow-white feet with the blood of the human as he ran through it, he took in the scene of the streets, which was utter chaos. He saw countless brawls taking place, spotting a fire elemental and a spider-type monster fighting off three humans. Later on, near the marketplace, a raptor monster without arms was using glowing golden swords to defend an elderly turtle monster. Asriel leapt across the rooftops, and once he got into the full view of the marketplace, it was filled with different brawls. A familiar fish monster, which he knew to be Undyne, was taking on 5 humans while a large group of monsters were spreading throughout the marketplace to help others. A rabbit and an insect-type monster in heavy armor were fighting side by side by the nice cream store. By the bell tower, a giant dog in armor, two dogs in black clothing holding axes, a normal-sized dog monster holding a sword and shield, and a black and white dog with daggers were fighting together, even if the dogs with axes and the dog with the daggers looked to be the only two actually fighting. With a pang, he recognized almost all of the monsters as Royal Guards. Undyne was the leader of the Combat unit, so where were the leaders of the Magic and Defense units? His eyes darted around for the tin can and the jester. He rested his eyes on Mettaton at last outside the flower shop, engaged in a fight with a human that looked to be using electricity magic. Asriel used a chaos blaster to propel himself to the human and Mettaton, making him land a blow on the back of the humans head. The leader of the Defense division let his mouth stay agape in shock for a few moments, then regained his composure.

"I could have gotten that guy, you know." Asriel twitched his brow in reaction.

"No, you couldn't have. You know what electricity magic would do to you, so don't get reckless. We still need you, tin can."

Mettaton grunted, partially at the nickname, but mainly to oblige. He rushed off to help the armless raptor monster that had been protecting the elderly turtle. Now that he knew that the Defense leader was safe, he needed to find.. The prince spotted the wizard-type/jester-looking monster, firing his cross-shaped magic from his orbs at a clump of humans. Asriel sprinted over, summoning sabers in his palms, knocking down some of the humans with a blow of his blades. "Hocus Pocus!" Madjick called, and more of his magic flew at the humans. Very shortly after, the humans fled from the two monsters. "Heh, cowards.." Asriel smirked snarkily while his brilliant green eyes followed the human group for a few moments. He turned to Madjick, and the Magic Unit leader returned his gaze.. even if his eyes were covered by his hat. He nodded to the boss monster, silently telling him he was okay, and the prince nodded in response before landing a punch on the face of a human that ran by. When he turned back, the wizard monster was gone. Ugh.. he hated the other monsters sudden disappearances. Summoning a Chaos blaster, Asriel thrust his hand forward and opened it, firing the blaster toward a group of humans. He made sure not to kill anyone, but just get them to run away. After the blaster erupted, the humans turned and saw the 6'8" monster looming above them with a saber in his right hand, the chaos blaster above him with his left arm out. He raised a brow at the humans to add an extra factor and the intimidation worked, because the group ran out of the marketplace.

From then on, the battle was much thinner and less challenging. He had assisted a few monsters who were not fit for fighting, such as a yellow lizard monster, a cat and a crocodile who were cornered in an alley, and a few others. Merely 20 minutes had passed since the battle had began when the last humans fled, scurrying toward Ebott with their legs shaking. Even if the humans had planned the attack, they had still lost. How ironic. Asriel turned his head to the marketplace, which was quite quiet, other then a few murmurs. He spotted medics scrambling into the square, who began checking everyone, until the whole square had become like a hospital. The prince just stood back at the start of an alley since he knew he didn't have any bad wounds, just a few scratches and bruises, that's all. Watching the hospital-like scene before him, his eyes wandered from group to group. He finally leaned his head against the wall of a store with the rest of his body, and let his eyes blink shut. He felt tired.. when was the last time he'd had a full night's rest? He huffed a silent sigh before succumbing to sleep.

\--

"HELLO? EXCUSE ME?"

Asriel roused from his shallow slumber, hesitantly forcing open his eyes. Before him stood a skeleton taller than he was, maybe 7'0"? he wore a royal guard uniform, and with one look at his cape he knew that he was in the combat unit. He took a good look at his face. He had tall eye sockets and a bright smile. He reminded him of.. oh, this was probably Annie's son. He had heard of the lad a few times, but he had never met him personally. Papyrus, right? No, he thought that was the other one. In his thought, he hadn't noticed the skeleton talking to him.

"SIR? ARE YOU OKAY?"

He shook his head from his thoughts and mentally punched himself in the gut for getting distracted and even thinking that he could be able to sleep. He looked up to the royal guard, and cleared his throat.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Sorry, I was a bit spaced out."

"AH! THAT'S UNDERSTANDABLE. IT ALL HAPPENS TO US SOMETIMES. ANYWAY, I WAS GOING TO ASK IF YOU HAVE ANY WOUNDS." Asriel blinked, snapping his head to the right and left, scanning his body for any bad wounds.

"Nope, I think I'm fine." The skeleton scanned his arms and his face, seeming as if he didn't trust that he was really okay, but when his eye sockets travelled to the boss monster's face, he froze. His face immediately turned orange in embarrassment, and he stepped back and bowed slightly. Asriel jumped a bit at the sudden action, and the other monster's voice was glazed with embarrassment. "GAH! I AM SO SORRY I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE YOU, PRINCE DREEMURR!"

"Eh.. It's fine, you don't have to bow, uh-"

"BUT ISN'T THAT CUSTOMARY?"

Asriel seemed to shrink at the skeleton's action, feeling almost resentful that he had been recognized. "I guess, but you don't have to. Uh... oh hey! I think that raptor monster needs help." He changed the subject as quick as possible, pointing over to the raptor monster he had seen twice earlier. the monster's yellow scales were shining with blood and wounds in some places, and it was sitting on a bench.

"OH! RIGHT! SORRY, YOUR HIGHNESS, I MUST GO."

The lanky skeleton dashed off, his red cape flowing behind him, and as soon as he approached the raptor, Asriel breathed a sigh of relief. Man, that was embarrassing.. he really didn't like being called 'your highness' or 'Prince Dreemurr'. They made him feel like some sort of tyrant. Otherwise, that monster sure sounded energetic. Annie must have a lot of patience. Scanning the clearing one last time, he turned and climbed back up onto the rooftops and skidded from roof to roof, in the direction of his parents' home. They would probably like a report of the battle near the marketplace, because his parents usually fought in the smaller streets. Ending up at their house, he sighed inwardly, before sliding off of the rooftop, scaling down the wall briskly with a saber and strolling to the front door. He knocked on the door, watching his back just in case, and a minute or two later, the door opened.

"Ah, hello my child."


	3. Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes~

The dame stared on out the window of her apartment, down at the crowded streets. It was her day off today, but she didn't really expect to be able to enjoy it. She had heard news of the attack the previous night, and she hadn't quite been surprised about the defeat. The monsters, from what she heard, had scouts on their rooftops at night, and they had been ready for the human soldiers. Before the whole of the first wave had even been able to start their attack, the bell in the tower of "Newer Home" had been rang, and the entire Royal Guard of the monsters had faced off against the small first wave, along with the help of monster civilians who were able to fight. Frisk huffed out a sigh at the thought. She had always wanted magic, yet monsters were born with it. Magic that was unique to them, and them only, while humans were stuck with magic that they could only learn if they joined the Wizard Council, became a doctor or joined the Ebott guard. Magic had been free to all above 18 before the war, but the war provided a problem. There were civilian human spies for the monsters that had been using their magic to help out the opposing side, and when this issue became evident to the government, they had banned magic for all civilians and had placed soldiers from the Ebott guard in the alleyways and on the rooftops at night to keep anyone from sneaking out. Anyone who had been caught smuggling information to the monsters or using magic as a civilian was charged with a hefty fine, along with the info smugglers usually being thrown in prison for treason. Well, it hadn't really mattered to her. She had only been 16 when the war started after all. At the time, Frisk had only expected the war to last a year or two, but when it stretched on for 6 years now she had gotten antsy. She just wanted the war to be over already..

Her thoughts fizzled through her mind while her eyes drifted aimlessly up and down the street. The sidewalks were absolutely packed, and every so often a car or a bus would zoom by. Everyone was being smart by walking. If everyone were driving, they would never make it to their destination unless they pushed on, shoving people down as if they were nothing but the dirt on the ground. The young lady tapped her nails on the windowsill absent-mindedly, letting her thoughts wander more and more. It wasn't even 8 AM yet, but the streets would be emptying soon. Maybe then she would be able to go to Main Street and pass by Sally's Café, then go shopping or something. The fact that she had no idea what to do on her one day off made her groan inwardly. She took a look at the flowers that hang on a basket outside her window, an assortment of red roses, white amaryllis, golden buttercups and cornflowers. She smiled at the colorful display. She had always loved flowers, and was slowly learning how to take care of them. Frisk had watered them a few minutes ago before her thoughts had wandered, and the roses had perked up again. She felt her smile grow warmer, and soon the light of the sunrise began filtering through her window, bathing her bedroom in golden, scarlet and orange light. Her soul fluttered, envying how beautiful the morning could still be in such circumstances. The dame took in the beauty of the bright new day, the pink sky turning blue gradually, and hearing the birds chirping just outside her window on the little nest that they had made a few days prior. Her eyelids felt lighter than ever from her restful night, and she still wore her night gown. Her night gown was fairly simple, a white dress-like garment with lace covering the red straps that kept the dress on her shoulders and little red bows that topped it off with an extra feminine charm. It was very comfortable, as expected. But if she wanted to go to Sally's Café, she probably wouldn't be able to go in. Reluctantly, Frisk rose to her feet and sauntered to her dresser.

She was just about to leave home to the hospitality and friendly atmosphere of Sally's Café. She had felt like staying casual and comfy today, so the dame had just put on a simple white sweater with one thin black stripe going through the middle, and a dark red skirt that stopped at her mid-thighs. She wore black leggings under the skirt for extra comfy factor. She would have just thrown on a hoodie or something, but she was feeling inspired today, so why not give it a shot? Frisk tugged on her black sneakers and headed toward the door, grabbing her handbag on the way. She had never liked carrying a handbag, but she needed to carry her belongings somehow.. and to hide her mace. She always kept the mace in the front compartment of her purse, which she always had unzipped slightly so she could immediately grab the mace in case of emergency. She would use magic, but the law exists and stuff. Opening her door, she looked up at see a very tall man standing over her. She immediately felt her legs shake a bit, but she pushed them to keep still. The man turned his eyes down to look at her, and his voice came, soft and polite.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I did not see you there. Are you Frisk Nillen?"

The young woman immediately relaxed when she heard his tone. She nodded in response to his question, fighting back a grunt at her last name. She should really get it changed soon. Maybe she would change it to Smith or something.

"Ah, how wonderful! My name is Marcus. I've come to deliver this letter, you see!" Marcus held out a letter, which was neatly closed and sealed with a sticker of a rose. Frisk couldn't help but smile lightly at the sticker. She took the envelope, and looked up at the other human once again. How tall even was he? Maybe.. 6'10"? Frisk was only 5'5". She had only seen basketball players of this height. Clearing away her thoughts frantically, she decided to think about it later. Right now she just needed to thank him, send him on his way, and find out what this letter was about.

"Thank you, Marcus. See you!" The taller human said goodbye friendlily in return right before the female closed the door. She stared at the letter for a few moments, wondering what it could be. She hadn't been expecting a delivery.. maybe something to do with rent? Besides, nowadays people would just call you with their phones. Her sigh was a heavy one, before she carefully opened the envelope, careful not to butcher the absolute mastery of whoever had perfectly packaged this, and slid the paper out from its casing. Hesitating, she began to read the paper.

All of the color seemed to fade from Frisk's face before her legs began to shake a little bit. Her thoughts whirred and buzzed through her brain at what she was reading, and when she came to the signature at the end of the letter, Lina Nillen, she moved her hands to the top of the paper. Not even thinking twice, she ripped it in half. How could this come at a worse time? Why hadn't this happened earlier or later? Why NOW? Her rage raised higher and higher, until she was sure that a kettle whistle would scream from her ears. She dropped what was left of the paper, and gently put her hand over her heart to calm herself down. She just had to adapt, and that was that. If she knew Lina at all, Frisk knew that she did not change her mind. Ever. Her teeth clenched, before she stepped over the paper, the tapping of her feet quiet, which stopped when she made her way to the kitchen window. Well.. if this was her last day as a civilian.. she would make it her best! She clenched her fist in determination. There was no way to get out of this, so there was no point to act moody over it. Sure, the work would suck, but it's better than whining about it. She turned and waltzed over to the front door, absentmindedly stepping on the paper, and opened the door. She swung her handbag over her shoulder, stepping out of her apartment and shutting the door.

\--

Frisk sauntered down Main Street, almost feeling as if her eyes were twinkling. Were they? She couldn't check right now. She would check when she got to the café. She was almost there right now, maybe a minute or so. Her mind wandered back to the letter she had gotten, before she shook it off and closed her eyes, refusing to think about that right now. The dame just wanted to enjoy her day, and by extension, her breakfast. Spinning on her heels and ending up facing the restaurant, she opened her eyes to see the café, but something was off. She rose an eyebrow and walked up to the door, looking inside before reading the sign that was taped on the door glass. The entire restaurant was dark, no-one inside from what she could see. Was today a holiday or something and she had forgotten? She turned her golden gaze down to look at the sign on the glass, and leaned down a bit to see it, since it was taped a bit low.

'NOTICE: Due to drafting of many of our employees, Sally's Café will be closed until further notice.'

She tensed, and her eyelids wrinkled. Drafting, eh? Well, at least she wasn't the only one..

"I think it's closed, miss!"

Frisk jolted up and spun around to see who had spoken, and her eyes darted down to meet with a boy's light blue gaze and light brown hair. He wore an open grey gingham shirt with a white undershirt and black pants that bagged off his ankles. He looked really young, maybe 4 to 6. The child looked up to the dame expectantly and innocently, so much so that she immediately felt a stab at her heart. That look reminded her why she loved children so much. "Yes, it is closed. Who might you be, little one?"

"I'm Finn! The Formidable Finn!"

The young woman couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the nickname he gave himself. "Oh, is that right? Are you here alone?"

"I was with my mama, but I lost her. I wandered around and ended up here."

"Do you want me to help you find her?"

"Of course, miss! Wait a minute.. what's your name?" Finn looked up at Frisk with a face of curiosity, and she answered with a kind smile.

"My name is Frisk."

"Yay! Miss Frisk!"

"Now where were you when you lost your mama?"

"We were out in the forest by our house looking for the massive oak tree that's back there! And we probably took a wrong turn, because we got close to Ebott and that's a bit far from our house. That's where I lost my mama. I ended up here so I decided to ask the nearest person for help, and that turned out to be you, Miss Frisk!" Finn rose up his arms at the last words, cheeriness erupting from the posture.

"Ah, that isn't good! She might be back at your home, so we'll start there. Now where is your home? We don't want to keep her worrying."

\--

Frisk had rented a small car to get to the house, because it was quite a ways.. a 40 minute drive. Walking would have taken almost a whole day.. How had Finn even gotten to Ebott? His home was on the other side of Mt. Ebott, which at least promised a peaceful trip with beautiful scenery, but she had a nagging feeling that something was off. This address was near the location of Newer Home. What if Finn thought a monster was his mother? No, that couldn't be possible. They had went behind their house after all, so she was definitely his caretaker. Maybe Finn's mother was a human and she might be against the war and wants to prove that living near the monsters isn't dangerous? Or what if Finn was being raised by a monster? Everything seemed so fuzzy and strange about this situation. Was she being tricked? Lured into a trap? Utterly bamboozled? She quietly puffed out the breath she had taken, and continued the drive, pushing away her thoughts and focusing on driving. Every so often Finn would point out something, from a cool-looking tree to a rock formation. Eventually, the car rolled to a stop, and Frisk turned off the car. When was the last time she had even driven a car? The other human jumped out of the car, his little white shoes tapping on the ground as he ran up to the door. The dame closed both doors and followed the child toward the door more slowly, staying cautious. The two humans reached the door and the younger human jumped up to get the doorbell. Faint tapping came toward the door from inside, and it opened, revealing a.. fox. A fox, standing on two legs, wearing a long flower-patterned dress that stopped under her knees. It was sleeveless, and the fox's red fur covered all exposed areas. Frisk felt her legs wobble when the fox saw the human and her amber eyes widened, her ears jutting back.

"Mama!"

The fox monster looked down at Finn, her shocked eyes growing even more alarmed. She snatched the child and yanked him into the house. "Finn! Where have you been! Why do you look like a human? Why are you WITH a human!?" Her voice was sharp and filled with worry. The human standing on the small porch outside the door bowed her head politely, forcing herself to stay calm.

"I'm sorry miss, but Finn was alone in Ebott, so I decided to bring him home.. and-"

She was startled when she raised her head and saw Finn, who was turned into a fox monster like his mother. The adult fox looked down at her child with shock and pride. "Ah! You finally learned how to shapeshift! I'm so proud of you!" The lad was scooped up into his mother's arms and twirled around further into the house while he protested. Frisk smiled at the display, before quietly closing their front door and turning to the silver car that was parked nearby. Her legs trembled, and she stood there for a few moments trying to process what had just happened. She was in the car with a monster? Well, he was a child, and he wasn't really a threat, but she was sure that if his mother hadn't been distracted by the startling revelation, she would have definitely called forth her magic. Twirling on her heels, she speed-walked toward the car and hurriedly drove back to Ebott. Seriously, this day was getting weirder and weirder. Frisk got back to Ebott around 10:45 AM. For the next few hours she just wandered around Main Street, visiting stores, talking to people she knew, and other things. Anything to get her mind off of what had just happened, and the fact that she had been drafted. At 3:56 PM, she walked into her apartment. Come to think of it, she should call Felix and let him know what happened. She really would miss the bakery and living simply and peacefully, but Lina's orders. As she scrolled through the contacts of her phone to find Felix, she grimaced at the thought of that wretch. When Finn's mother had been showing him so much affection, she had been reminded of how that was all she had wanted as a child. To be loved, not treated like a tool or an accessory. She raised the phone to her ear when she had found the contact and called it.

\--

Frisk stared up at the letters engraved on the sign that was cemented into the building. 'THE EBOTT GUARD DRAFTING'. She frowned at the sight, letting out a small sigh before she walked inside and immediately saw what she had expected. All different kinds of people were sitting all over the floor, women, men, tall, short, chiseled, thin, and the list went on. She wove around the shapes, earning a few stares from the people she didn't recognize, probably because she looked very unfitting for a soldier, which was the case. If a monster landed a single blow on her, she looked like she would probably shatter right then and there. With her hands in the pockets of her track pants, her arms half-covered by the red shirt she wore, she did feel very comfortable, but she would prefer to stay like this and not have to wear some scrap metal. Her feet stopped in their tracks when she reached a woman taller than her, maybe 6'3", wearing armor looked down at Frisk. The woman's raven hair was tied into a ponytail with pieces of hair hanging by the sides of her face, while her orange eyes looked down at the human in confusion.

"Uh.. you lost, pipsqueak?" The shorter human's eyelid twitched.

"Ma'am, I was drafted. Also, may I point out that I am average height?"

"Oh, sorry. Uh.. you can just sit down somewhere until they call your name. They're moving pretty fast, but there are a lot of people to go through. They're calling on people based on first name alphabetical order, and right now they're just starting with F's."

"Oh, that's convenient. My name's Frisk."

"Heh, you got lucky. Might wanna sit down nearby so you won't have to walk back and forth."

Frisk nodded and quietly moved over to sit on a crate nearby. There were a few crates scattered throughout the room, which some laid on, others sat, and a few leaned against. Her gaze drifted to the hallway that could be seen past the people already in the guard, which people were slowly being escorted down as names continued being called.

"Fiona Brooks?"

A short female with black hair and a skin color of cocoa stood from the corner of the room and made her way over, being allowed down the hall.

"Frank Owens?"

A muscular male with blonde hair and green eyes did the same.

"Frisk Nillen?"

Frisk tensed, standing up. At the sound of her last name, she saw some people direct their gazes at her. She really should get it changed. Making her way to the hallway, being let through by the guards, she heard muttering behind her and could feel their gazes burning into her back. Why couldn't she have been born into another family? Pushing her thoughts away from that, the hallway led her to an armory with multiple soldiers putting on armor. A male with brown hair and brown eyes walked over to her. "Hey. Did you get your armor yet?"

"Nope." At her nonchalant tone, the man softened a bit, but still looked uptight.

"Then go talk to Marcus over there. He's in charge of the armor and stuff. After you've got your armor, just join the other soldiers going to the training area."

Frisk turned her head to see Marcus, the deliveryman from yesterday, handing a set of armor to the guy that had been called right before her. Marcus? He was in the Ebott Guard? To be honest, she hadn't expected that. Was he drafted too or was he already in it? "Thanks." She nodded to amplify the thanks and plodded over to the tall guard, and his head rotated to see the new soldier. The dame smiled lightly and raised her hand briefly in hello. Marcus smiled kindly and handed her a set of armor, along with a black bodysuit that went under it. The shorter human nodded in thanks and went into a changing room nearby. After she put on the bodysuit and slipped on the armor over it, she stepped out of the room and joined the group of soldiers going through a doorway. She blended in well among the soldiers, but she kept her head down to the point where her face was hard to see, but she could still observe her surroundings.

The group went down a few corridors, some twists and turns, and they ended up outside. A tall guardsman she couldn't see the details of was standing in front of a large line of soldiers, presumably draftees, wearing armor. Frisk kept her head down, keeping to the center of the group of soldiers that she travelled in, only glancing up to see her surroundings a few times. Before she knew it, she was standing in the line of soldiers with her hands behind her back like everyone else, just wanting to blend in. But if she had to do this, she just wanted to make the best of it. Holding on to her last shred of optimism, she let her dismal expression fade, turning into a neutral face with wide open eyes to look as non-pessimistic or gloomy as possible. She had always hated being somber, so why start now? Allowing her eyes to flick around the area, she saw that they were in a large field. Glancing to her right over the soldiers, she saw the faint shape of Ebott. The corridors must have been tunnels underground. There had been a stairway going down, but Frisk hadn't even thought much of it. Heck, she had just been observing what the place looked like, nothing about where they were. The hallways had gone on for awhile, so it was understandable that they were so far out of the city. Besides, it made sense that the draftees were training in the wilderness. There wasn't really a training hall or a headquarters as far as the dame knew, so it was probably their only option.

"Alright fresh meat, you all better be here."

A booming voice split the air as if it were a gunshot. Geez, how could a human's voice get this loud? She resisted the urge to cover her ears.

" ** _These_** are the new recruits? Hah! Some of these pipsqueaks couldn't even get within 10 yards of a monster before they were dead!" The tall man that she had seen earlier was the one talking, apparently. He looked chiseled, fit and overall in good shape. He was definitely the type of person one would expect to be an Ebott guardsman. His unruly ash-brown hair was shimmering in the early morning sun, just now rising over the treetops. It hurt Frisk's eyes to look at, but she didn't want to get in trouble, so she just allowed her gaze to squint a little. The booming voice echoed in the field once more.

"Just break down into groups, doesn't matter who you're with, and you'll get evaluated for what type of magic and weapons you'll wield.."

After the guardsman finished, his gaze drifted to Frisk's left, where the person right next to her, a short male with neatly combed blonde hair, had his hand raised. "Mind telling us your name, hotshot?" The commander narrowed his un-saturated purple eyes, a glint of an unnameable emotion appearing. He walked calmly up to the man and stared at him for a moment with a smirk, then punched his gut. The blonde-haired draftee dropped to his knees at the impact, most likely amplified by the metal glove that came with the other man's armor.

"Commander Gordon, dumbass." His voice came much less booming than before, but was still a little loud.

Commander Gordon cleared his throat, his booming voice returning when he called for everyone to get into groups. The female draftee just stood there for a few moments, then looked around. Everyone was just walking in an unorganized jumble, most just walking around to random people and joining their groups without a word. Walking over to a small group with a brisk pace, which was comprised of a few males and females, some short and some tall, some muscular and some thin. She really didn't feel like observing the group right now, so she just kept on her neutral face with her wide eyes and kept moving forward while a few other soldiers joined the group. A few minutes later, there were neat groups standing in the field, with one person walking toward each group, presumably to evaluate the people of the group. It was more efficient that way, so she didn't question it.

And so, the evaluation began. The first one, an average-looking male with curly hair was assigned air magic and the bow and arrow, the second, earth magic and swords. The third person was Frisk herself. Stepping up, she held up her arms from her sides as she was instructed, silently noting how light this armor was. Would it even be effective in battle? The evaluator--she had introduced herself as Dr. Lin--had asked her a few questions like if she exercised on a regular basis, had ever handled a weapon, age, things like that. When the evaluation was over, Lin looked up from her clipboard and stated, "I'm finished, Miss Frisk. You will learn fire magic, and you will wield spears. Go ahead to the training area."

The draftee trudged toward the training area on the other side of the field, a bit dumbfounded at her assignments. Fire magic? Spears? Well, maybe the fire magic was because she used to be a baker. Hm, what if fire magic makes food cook better? Well she had heard fire magic was powerful, so she didn't mind. Raising her head to the sky for a brief moment, she huffed out a sigh, then reached the training area. Alright.. bring it on.

\--

"NO! That is not how you hold a spear!" Trainer Nathan's irritation was obviously boiling over the rim now from having to explain this to the other draftee 5 times. Frisk had picked up the technique rather easily, since it truly wasn't that hard. Trainer Nathan was the one assigned to teach the people that needed to learn about spears, and coincidentally he was the one who had asked if she had gotten her armor in armory earlier. He was fine, better than Commander Gordon, that's for sure. Nathan was a bit uptight, but right now he looked like he was about to burst, maybe smack this gal upside the head. The other draftees had gotten bored of listening and watching the teaching over and over again, so some had begun quietly chatting amongst themselves. Frisk herself was listening to a conversation that some other draftees were having currently about the most recent battles. She would occasionally comment, but right now she was just listening. Listening intently to the conversation beside her, she let herself hug her knees while she sat in the cool grass.

"Did you hear about the battle two nights ago?"

"Yeah, it was a miserable failure on our part."

"Rumor has it the monsters only beat us in _20 minutes.._ "

"What? That can't be possible. They have such weaker souls than us!"

"But monsters do have magic and more HP. That does give them an advantage.."

"Well I have a friend that's been in the Ebott guard for awhile and she said that she once encountered a monster with only 10 HP."

"That's unlikely."

"She never lies, so I believe her. Besides, maybe we should get back to the subject."

"Ah yes, I love talking about failure."

"It wasn't all failure though. I heard we dusted the magic unit leader of the monster's 'Royal Guard'."

"I suppose that's a good thing. The magic unit is quite annoying. Without a leader will certainly weaken them."

"But we lost a lot of soldiers too. For example, a saber was sent through General Isaiah's chest."

"Oh, right. Do you know who did it?"

"I don't think anyone knows who. It was a monster for sure, but no-one saw who it was."

"Dang."

"Who is- I mean, was.. General Isaiah?" Frisk turned her head to the group. A few heads turned and looked at her, and another that hadn't turned answered.

"He was the general responsible for Dr. Lina Nillen becoming the leader of Ebott. He was also the one that trained Commander Gordon." Her eyes felt like they dulled at the mention of Lina. She had forgotten that she would be hearing more of her since she was in the Ebott Guard now. The conversation kept on, now on the subject of Lina.

"What was she even thinking when she was sending so many soldiers on the rooftops of Newer Home? They should have scouted the area first."

"Maybe they had no scouts left.. scouts and spies do put themselves in a lot of danger."

"They should get more scouts then! It's as simple as that."

"But not everyone can be drafted. They aren't drafting currently expecting females, people over 40 or people with medical conditions, so that knocks off many people. Ebott is a big city after all."

"The doc isn't really all that qualified to be leader. It should have been her husband."

"But you know what happened to him only a few years after they were married. And their children were too young to lead." Frisk tensed.

"True. Though, General Isaiah should have seen that she was not a fit leader.. But he didn't, and now we're stuck with her."

"Whatever happened to their children? I don't even remember where they were last."

"The middle child is working for the doc, but the other two's whereabouts are unknown."

"Man, they don't even know where two of them are? That's tough."

"Agreed.."

She didn't want to listen to the conversation anymore. Directing her attention back to the trainer, she saw that the training draftee had finally learned how to hold a spear, making the dame sigh in relief that they wouldn't have to wait any longer. The conversations hushed moments after when Trainer Nathan called for them to go to their magic training area.

\--

Magic training practice wasn't as easy. It had taken her a few tries like everyone else, because the fire was very hot and spontaneous. Eventually she was able to hit the target, which was a dummy a few yards in front of her. She hadn't expected magic to be handed to her on the first day, but it was the army. She should have known that there would be something strange and unexpected. Right after she had gotten a hit on the dummy, she was directed to the training area once again. The rest of the day was a blur of sparring, practice, fire magic, learning how to summon magic spears, and so on. Right now, she was trudging out of the armory and down the hallway, back to the main entrance. Frisk had changed back into her red shirt with the sleeves that went to her elbows and her track pants, slipping on her sandals that she had worn that morning. It might look a bit tacky, but she really didn't care right now. At least she was outta this dump for the day, the thought allowed a small smile to creep across her face. It was around 7 PM, and the sun was almost set. Entering the drafting hall, she noted how it was empty. It was silent in the hall, until she was halfway to the exit. An ear-piercing _'BOOM'_ split the air, and no more than a moment later, the entire outside that she could see turned white for a split second. Her eyelid twitched.

"Seriously? This is the worst time.." She muttered under her breath. Her apartment was a 20-minute walk from here.. this sucked! Gathering her energy as she reached the exit, she took a deep breath. Frisk ran out into the cold night, keeping her right hand in her pocket, grasping her mace, while the other hand went in a back and forth motion while she ran at a steady pace. It was beginning to rain, and she wanted to get home as soon as possible. If she kept up this pace for the entire way, she would get there in maybe 5 to 10 minutes. She didn't want to get caught in the rain, and she had no way of avoiding it. Almost all shops closed after dark and she wouldn't be able to take shelter, and she didn't have a jacket or anything to cover herself with. This was the best she could do for now. 5 minutes later, she was almost to her apartment, and the rain was pouring. She glanced up from the ground, and saw a tall figure with an umbrella up ahead. It seemed to be going the same way she was, but walking way slower. Frisk tightened her grip on her mace just in case, and as she neared she figure, she saw them look back. It stopped walking, and the dame felt her heart seem to stop, but she kept running, even if her pace was slower now. She chanced another glance up when she would be able to make out the person's features, and saw a very tall male with raven hair and dark blue eyes. She felt like she had seen him before.. until it clicked seconds later. It was Marcus. Even if she recognized him, she kept on with her running. She was feeling very out of breath now, but it didn't matter. She just needed to get home, dry off, change, and relax.

"Oh, hello there Frisk!" Marcus's voice surprised her, and she slowed her pace until she was walking, looking up to see Marcus standing right in front of her. She waved back, managing a smile.

"This rain is really nerve-racking, huh?" The tall man allowed the umbrella to shield Frisk from the rain, who was already soaking wet. She stared up at him in shock, her golden eyes giving off her bewilderment.

"What, do you expect me to just let you get wet while I'm dry? That's rude." His sweet smile, filled with genuine care made the dame feel better. After explaining her own situation, Marcus went on to offer to walk her home, because his home was only a few minutes away from their current location. After Frisk hesitantly agreed, the two walked toward her apartment building and chatted along the way. Once they reached the building, they had said goodbye and the shorter human went up to her apartment, taking off her wet clothes and leaving them to dry, taking a warm shower, and changing into comfy sweatpants and tank top. Right now she plopped down on her bed, grabbing her computer from off of the floor and beginning to play games. Even if she was playing these games to take her mind off of her situation, they didn't distract her at all. She couldn't stop thinking about the bakery, and how much she wanted to work there again. She couldn't stop thinking about her training. She couldn't stop thinking about how she would probably go into battle in a month or so. But mostly.. she couldn't stop thinking about that wretched woman that led this city. Frisk had thought she would never have to deal with her again, and be free of her shackles. She didn't want to be in the family that she was in. She hated it. Her childhood had molded her mind this way, and made her realize how cold that woman was. Knowing Lina, she probably would summon her in order to talk to her, and it would probably go something like this.

"Frisk. I haven't seen you in 8 years. Where have you been?" She would probably fake looking worried or even a hint of emotion at her disappearance.

"You shouldn't run away from your responsibilities, young lady. That is not what a Nillen should do." Aunt Kayla would probably be watching, feeling every bit of hate for her sister as she scolded, like always.

"Seriously, you are too much like your father sometimes. Running off to do God knows what! If you disappear again, I will treat you as I had to when you tried to run the first time." Lina would slam her fists on the desk, glaring at Frisk. The younger human knew she wouldn't even listen or care. She didn't care about her mother. Not with the way that she had "brought her up". The memories flooded through her mind. The times that she was locked in her room. The times that she went without dinner because she had snuck out. How she had not been allowed to speak. What her mother did to Frisk's brother and cousin. She had never wanted to hear of that woman again. The whole reason she had gotten the job at the bakery in the first place is because she wanted to raise enough money to move to a town on the other side of Mount Ebott. Her teeth involuntarily clenched when she thought of what had happened to her brother and her cousin. What had happened when they had climbed that mountain? Had they been eaten by a beast? Lost in the wilderness? Went to the next town over? These thoughts drained her energy to play anymore on her computer, so she closed it, put it away and settled into her bed. She silently reminded herself to visit that website she had seen tomorrow and request her name change. She was going to stay as Frisk.. just change her last name. Slowly and silently sighing, she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frisk's nightgown: https://i.etsystatic.com/6321425/r/il/505aea/2070247281/il_1588xN.2070247281_3m9i.jpg


	4. Ah yes, a hiatus

Okay yeah uhh I'm sorry but I have to put this on a hiatus for now

I have no motivation right now and even if I force myself I can't sit down for more than ten or thirty minutes before I get distracted and stop writing. I just wanna take a break until my motivation comes back. I'm so sorry because this is such a dumb reason for me to go on hiatus and I hate it but I can't write well without motivation.

If I'm not back in 2021, I either forgot that this existed or I still don't have motivation again

Uh seeya

❤

**Author's Note:**

> By the way! Here are links to some images that should help ya imagine things.
> 
> Frisk's dress: https://www.dhresource.com/0x0/f2/albu/g8/M01/74/9F/rBVaVF6oDs-Ad7nEAAUs_JbYXEU929.jpg/11-colors-women-dress-floral-solid-60s-pin.jpg
> 
> Frisk's hair: https://thecuddl.com/images/2018/07/20-unique-hairstyle-thecuddl.jpg
> 
> Aaron's necklace: https://img1.etsystatic.com/125/0/9023759/il_fullxfull.1094522769_oy8d.jpg
> 
> Alex font: https://d144mzi0q5mijx.cloudfront.net/img/A/L/Alex.png


End file.
